Madagascar villages flooded

2005-03-09 12:45

Antananarivo - At least four people were killed, 18 wounded and thousands left homeless in devastating floods that hit east central Madagascar last week, destroying a portion of the region's rice crop, officials said on Wednesday.

Four days of unusually heavy rains flooded the Indian Ocean island nation's Lake Alaotra and surrounding villages, causing the deaths and injuries while submerging nearly 10% of the area's rice fields, they said.

"It rained so much between Wednesday and Saturday last week that the waters of Lake Alaotra rose and flooded rice fields and villages on the western shores," the regional administrator, Daniel Robinson said.

Three of the four people who died were killed when their homes collapsed on top of them, he said.

Eight of the 18 people injured are still being treated in hospital and of the 18 818 villagers affected by the floods, 7 340 have been left homeless, Robinson said, citing reports compiled by local officials.

In addition, he said 13 201 hectares of the region's 148 000 of rice fields remain underwater, leading to fears of a possible food shortage.

Lake Alaotra is considered Madagascar's "rice basket" and normally produces about 356 000 tonnes of unprocessed rice a year about 13% of the annual national production of 2.7 million tonnes.

"It is still rather early to gauge the impact of the floods on the next harvest," Robinson said, adding though that there were concerns that fertiliser applied last month to the crop, which was planted in January, had been lost.

"I am afraid that the fertiliser has been washed away," he said.

Officials said Madagascar's National Emergency Service is distributing assistance and medical supplies to affected people in the region.

According to the island's meteorology department, 140mm of rain fell in the four days of downpours around Lake Alaotra, almost the entire monthly average for March of 159mm. - AFP

- SAPA